Ghazal 220 "Aspirations"
By Hafiz
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Although our city preacher won't
like hearing it from me,
He'll never be a Muslim with
this much hypocrisy.
Learn to get drunk, be a gentleman
not a dumb animal
That cannot drink a drop of wine
or be a man at all.
The essence must be unalloyed
to make His grace our own,
Or from our clay no pearls will come
nor coral come from stone.
The Almighty shall fulfill His will.
Rejoice, my heart! No con
Or devilry can turn a demon
into a Solomon.
Mine is the noble art of love.
I hope against belief
This craft won't bring, as others brought,
despondency and grief.
Last night he said "Tomorrow I
will grant your heart's desire"
God let him have no change of heart
nor let him be a liar.
May God add a good heart to all
your physical attraction
So you'll no longer torment me
with harrowing distraction.
Hafiz! Unless a mote of dust
aspires to mighty height,
It is not drawn to the true fount
from which the sun draws light.
Prose paraphrase:
(1) Though the city preacher won't find it easy to hear these words, as long as he practices sophistry and hypocrisy, he'll never be a real Muslim. (2) Train yourself in dissolute drunkenness, and be a gentleman to others. For not so artful is the beast that does not drink wine, or become human. (3) There must be a pure-gemmed essence in order to be a vessel for holy grace, for without it stone and clay will not become pearl and coral. (4) He of the Greatest Name does his work - be glad O heart, for by no trick or fraud can a devil ever become Solomon. (5) I practice love, and hope that this noble art will not, as other arts have done, cause me chagrin. (6) Last night he was saying "Tomorrow I will give you your heart's desire." Oh God, contrive to keep him from having compunction about doing so! (7) For my own sake I pray God include in your beauty a good disposition, so that my mind is no longer distraught and discombobulated. (8) So long as the dustmote lacks lofty aspiration and drive, Hafiz, it is not in quest for the source that is the resplendent sun's own dayspring.
Notes:
Verse 1: The word for hypocrisy, sālūs is identical to one of the words for the Christian trinity (though they are spelled differently in Perso-Arabic script.) Hypocrisy, for Hafiz, is a cardinal sin against the divine, and this may be a punny way of equating it with the dilution of monotheism, as the triune God of Christianity was, and indeed still is, generally seen by Muslims as a sketchy traducement of God's essential oneness. I myself get the sense that such punctilios as the dubious nature of the trinity (as well as all the things that you have to do or think to be a "true" Muslim) might have been precisely the sort of thing a pietistic preacher would rant about from the pulpit. The real sin isn't the Christian's sālūs (trinity) that would offend the preacher, but rather the preacher's own sālūs (hypocrisy) that offends Hafiz. Thus the preacher who might rant about what makes a proper Muslim is himself failing to measure up.
Verse 3: See Qur'an [55:19-22]
Verse 7: Many recensions of this poem have husn-i xulqē zi Xudā mētalabam xōy-i turā "I seek of God a fine disposition for your character", which does not make overmuch sense as xulq and xōy are more or less synonyms. Khanlārī prefers the variant ending in husn-i turā "to your beauty" which seems much more compelling to me. This version makes it clear that the speaker is asking for the beloved to be as good in heart as he is good to look at, for if so he will satisfy the lover's desire rather than making him yearn tormentedly. It also adds a nice bit of wordplay. For ḥusn-i xulq is also a technical term for "virtue of character" in a religious and ethical sense. Hafiz, though, is enjoining the beloved to keep his word and do something which, however pleasurable, is rather at odds with what the jurist would deem virtuous.
The Original:
By Hafiz
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Although our city preacher won't
like hearing it from me,
He'll never be a Muslim with
this much hypocrisy.
Learn to get drunk, be a gentleman
not a dumb animal
That cannot drink a drop of wine
or be a man at all.
The essence must be unalloyed
to make His grace our own,
Or from our clay no pearls will come
nor coral come from stone.
The Almighty shall fulfill His will.
Rejoice, my heart! No con
Or devilry can turn a demon
into a Solomon.
Mine is the noble art of love.
I hope against belief
This craft won't bring, as others brought,
despondency and grief.
Last night he said "Tomorrow I
will grant your heart's desire"
God let him have no change of heart
nor let him be a liar.
May God add a good heart to all
your physical attraction
So you'll no longer torment me
with harrowing distraction.
Hafiz! Unless a mote of dust
aspires to mighty height,
It is not drawn to the true fount
from which the sun draws light.
Prose paraphrase:
(1) Though the city preacher won't find it easy to hear these words, as long as he practices sophistry and hypocrisy, he'll never be a real Muslim. (2) Train yourself in dissolute drunkenness, and be a gentleman to others. For not so artful is the beast that does not drink wine, or become human. (3) There must be a pure-gemmed essence in order to be a vessel for holy grace, for without it stone and clay will not become pearl and coral. (4) He of the Greatest Name does his work - be glad O heart, for by no trick or fraud can a devil ever become Solomon. (5) I practice love, and hope that this noble art will not, as other arts have done, cause me chagrin. (6) Last night he was saying "Tomorrow I will give you your heart's desire." Oh God, contrive to keep him from having compunction about doing so! (7) For my own sake I pray God include in your beauty a good disposition, so that my mind is no longer distraught and discombobulated. (8) So long as the dustmote lacks lofty aspiration and drive, Hafiz, it is not in quest for the source that is the resplendent sun's own dayspring.
Notes:
Verse 1: The word for hypocrisy, sālūs is identical to one of the words for the Christian trinity (though they are spelled differently in Perso-Arabic script.) Hypocrisy, for Hafiz, is a cardinal sin against the divine, and this may be a punny way of equating it with the dilution of monotheism, as the triune God of Christianity was, and indeed still is, generally seen by Muslims as a sketchy traducement of God's essential oneness. I myself get the sense that such punctilios as the dubious nature of the trinity (as well as all the things that you have to do or think to be a "true" Muslim) might have been precisely the sort of thing a pietistic preacher would rant about from the pulpit. The real sin isn't the Christian's sālūs (trinity) that would offend the preacher, but rather the preacher's own sālūs (hypocrisy) that offends Hafiz. Thus the preacher who might rant about what makes a proper Muslim is himself failing to measure up.
Verse 3: See Qur'an [55:19-22]
Verse 7: Many recensions of this poem have husn-i xulqē zi Xudā mētalabam xōy-i turā "I seek of God a fine disposition for your character", which does not make overmuch sense as xulq and xōy are more or less synonyms. Khanlārī prefers the variant ending in husn-i turā "to your beauty" which seems much more compelling to me. This version makes it clear that the speaker is asking for the beloved to be as good in heart as he is good to look at, for if so he will satisfy the lover's desire rather than making him yearn tormentedly. It also adds a nice bit of wordplay. For ḥusn-i xulq is also a technical term for "virtue of character" in a religious and ethical sense. Hafiz, though, is enjoining the beloved to keep his word and do something which, however pleasurable, is rather at odds with what the jurist would deem virtuous.
The Original:
گر چه بر واعظ شهر این سخن آسان نشود تا ریا ورزد و سالوس مسلمان نشود
رندی آموز و کرم کن که نه چندان هنر است حیوانی که ننوشد می و انسان نشود
گوهر پاک بباید که شود قابل فیض ور نه هر سنگ و گلی لوءلوء و مرجان نشود
اسم اعظم بکند کار خود ای دل خوش باش که به تلبیس و حیل دیو سليمان نشود
عشق میورزم و امید که این فن شریف چون هنرهای دگر موجب حرمان نشود
دوش میگفت که فردا بدهم کام دلت سببی ساز خدایا که پشیمان نشود
حسن خلقی ز خدا میطلبم حسن ترا تا دگر خاطر ما از تو پریشان نشود
ذره را تا نبود همت عالی حافظ
طالب چشمه خورشید درخشان نشود
طالب چشمه خورشید درخشان نشود
Romanization:
Gar či bar wā'iz-i šahr īn suxan āsān našawad
Tā riā warzad u sālūs musalmān našawad
Rindī āmōz u karam kun ki na čandān hunarast
Hayawānē ki nanōšad may u insān našawad
Gawhar-i pāk bibāyad, ki šawad qābil-i fayz,
War na har sang u gilē lu'lu' u marjān našawad.
Ism-i a'zam bukunad kār-i xwad ay dil, xwaš bāš
Ki ba talbīs u hayal dēw Sulaymān našawad
'Išq mēwarzam u ummēd ki īn fann-i šarīf
Čūn hunarhā-i digar mawjib-i hirmān našawad
Dōš mēguft ki fardā bidiham kām-i dilat
Sababē sāz Xudāyā ki pašēmān našawad
Husn-i xulqē zi Xudā mētalabam husn-i turā
Tā digar xātar-i mā az tu parēšān našawad
Zurrarā tā nabuwad himmat-i 'ālī hāfiz
Tālib-i čašma-i xwaršēd-i duruxšān našawad
Тоҷикӣ:
Gar či bar wā'iz-i šahr īn suxan āsān našawad
Tā riā warzad u sālūs musalmān našawad
Rindī āmōz u karam kun ki na čandān hunarast
Hayawānē ki nanōšad may u insān našawad
Gawhar-i pāk bibāyad, ki šawad qābil-i fayz,
War na har sang u gilē lu'lu' u marjān našawad.
Ism-i a'zam bukunad kār-i xwad ay dil, xwaš bāš
Ki ba talbīs u hayal dēw Sulaymān našawad
'Išq mēwarzam u ummēd ki īn fann-i šarīf
Čūn hunarhā-i digar mawjib-i hirmān našawad
Dōš mēguft ki fardā bidiham kām-i dilat
Sababē sāz Xudāyā ki pašēmān našawad
Husn-i xulqē zi Xudā mētalabam husn-i turā
Tā digar xātar-i mā az tu parēšān našawad
Zurrarā tā nabuwad himmat-i 'ālī hāfiz
Tālib-i čašma-i xwaršēd-i duruxšān našawad
Тоҷикӣ:
Гарчи бар воизи шаҳр ин сухан осон нашавад,
То риё варзаду солус, мусулмон нашавад.
Риндӣ омӯзу карам кун, ки на чандон ҳунар аст,
Ҳаявоне, ки нанӯшад маю инсон нашавад.
Гавҳари пок бибояд, ки шавад қобили файз,
Варна ҳар сангу гиле лӯълӯву марҷон нашавад.
Исми аъзам бикунад кори худ, эй дил, хуш бош
Ки ба талбису ҳиял дев Сулаймон нашавад.
Ишқ меварзаму уммед, ки ин фанни шариф,
Чун ҳунарҳои дигар мӯҷиби хирмон нашавад.
Дӯш мегуфт, ки фардо бидиҳам коми дилат,
Сабабе соз, Худоё, ки пашемон нашавад.
Ҳусни хулқе зи Худо металабам ҳусни туро,
То дигар хотири мо аз ту парешон нашавад.
Зарраро то набувад ҳиммати олӣ, Ҳофиз,
Толиби чашмаи хуршеди дурахшон нашавад.
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